Here’s your free but abridged version of this week’s “Run Long, Run Healthy” newsletter. Subscribe below to receive the complete, full-text edition with the newest and most authoritative scientific articles on training, nutrition, shoes, injury prevention, and motivation.
Pow! Amazing But True! A Placebo Pill Can Boost Your Performance
Here, the world’s top sports science experts answer our biggest performance questions. The report comes from this year’s American College of Sports Medicine meeting.
The questions ranged from endurance nutrition (carbs, caffeine, sodium bicarbonate) to the effects of a placebo supplement, to using the new weight-loss drugs to “make weight,” to crushed ice, collagen, and female menstrual periods. Everything is freely available at the below link.
I was most drawn to the discussions of high-carb performance (the “carbolution”), sodium bicarbonate, and placebo supplements. Here’s what the experts had to say.
High-carb consumption during competition: This was judged “equivocal” at >100 grams/hour, but the explanations sure sounded like a yes. A key factor: You must practice in training to make sure you find your personal “sweet spot” that doesn’t produce stomach distress.
This is called a “carbolution” because it represents a giant leap forward. In the 1980s, endurance athletes were urged to take in 22 grams per hour. More recently, that increased to 30 – 60 grams. Now, we read about 90 – 100, and even more in some cases.
Sodium bicarbonate in a hydrogel product: This was judged to have “too little empirical data to confirm or refute.” It could work, or it could make you sick. Marathoners will probably have more problems than cyclists.
Nonetheless, “Anecdotal support has recently come in the form of elite athlete feedback (including marathoners), who say they can perform better with the Bicarb System.”
Placebo supplements: Yes, they work. Yes, you should have one, provided it does no harm. Here’s what one expert said: “Every runner should have a supplement that they believe in. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t actually work: the placebo effect is a race winner in its own right.”
In other words, you must believe to achieve. That’s just 3 of 10 questions debated in the article. Again, it’s available in free full text at the International J of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism.
RELATED ARTICLE: How Frequently Should You Take Energy Gels During Races?
Big Developments On Fitness & Brain Disease/Alzheimer’s
Two big studies of middle-aged (and older) adults have concluded that we have several strong tools to fight cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s.
The first: Push your cardiorespiratory fitness as high as possible. That’s more a reflection of your mile time than your marathon time, but you can’t go wrong with any solid endurance performance.
Individuals with high cardio fitness had a 40% lower risk of developing dementia than those with low cardio fitness. More at British J of Sports Medicine with free full text.
Another large-sample paper showed that adults who were long-term users (more than 5 years) of “common cardiovascular drugs” had “significantly fewer dementia diagnoses than non-users.” These drugs included “antihypertensives, diuretics, lipid-lowering drugs (LLDs), and oral anticoagulants.”
On the other hand, the use of antiplatelet therapy (like aspirin) was “associated with more dementia diagnoses.” More at Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
As someone who takes a daily baby aspirin, I found this disturbing. I calmed myself by finding a recent, high-quality report that concluded: “Aspirin was not associated with dementia.” More at Neuroepidemiology.
Of course, we should all be aware that advice about aspirin therapy has shifted in recent years. Due to the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, it is now recommended in fewer situations than previously. More at Mayo Clinic.
RELATED ARTICLE: What Is Zone 2 Cardio, How Do You Do It, And How Much Do You Need?
No, Those Marathon Runners Did NOT Have A Heart Attack
Cardiologists have been struggling for some time to understand cardiac troponin release in runners. The appearance of troponin in the blood is considered the gold standard measure for a heart attack.
Yet marathon runners show cardiac troponin after hitting the finish line, and even high school cross-country runners release some troponin. These youthful runners have clearly not suffered a heart attack. So what’s going on?
A new study has delved deeply into this subject. The researchers “assessed whether the composition of cTnT [cardiac troponin] release after a marathon race differs from that of acute myocardial infarction.”
To do this, they compared 45 runners who had just finished a marathon vs 84 patients who had just suffered a heart attack.
Result: Both showed cardiac troponin in their blood, but the type of troponin was distinctly different. The runners exhibited a shorter form of troponin that was mostly “broken down,” while the troponin in heart-attack patients was longer and more “intact.”
Conclusion: “This novel test holds promise that could help separate benign cardiac troponin levels [in runners] from those of acute myocardial infarction.” More at Open Heart with free full text.
RELATED ARTICLE: Is Running Good For You? 14 Health Benefits Of Running
SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss
• Rub it on: Can olive oil on the legs improve your cold-day running? Or Vaseline? Or Icy Hot?
HERE’S WHAT ELSE YOU WOULD HAVE RECEIVED this week if you were a subscriber to the complete, full-text edition of “Run Long, Run Healthy.” SUBSCRIBE HERE.
- Why you should do dynamic stretches before your next race
- Should you “train low” without carbohydrates?
- The best (most accurate) way to measure dehydration
- Good news about Vitamin D and running
- You need to know THIS about taping your ankles
- Your daily vitamin pill could kill you
- What Babe Ruth understood about refusing to give up
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby
